Barbara Ann Halkier

Short presentation

Head of DynaMo Center of Excellence

My research is focused on glucosinolates as model specialized metabolites to study cellular and organismal biology.

Glucosinolates are amino acid-derived natural plant products found in the order Brassicales, which includes the economically important oilseed rape, vegetables such as broccoli and the model Arabidopsis. Glucosinolates are hydrolyzed by myrosinases to produce isothiocyanates and nitriles, which have a wide range of biological activities. For plants, glucosinolates protect against herbivore and microbial attacks, and is implicated in host-plant recognition by specialized predators. For humans, glucosinolates have received increased attention as cancer-preventive agents and potential biopesticides.

In my research group, we apply pathway and transport engineering of glucosinolates to improve human nutrition and to increase disease resistance of crops. In addition, we use the glucosinolates in Arabidopsis thaliana as a unique model system for studying cellular and organismal biology. The goal is to uncover the molecular interactions facilitating the dynamic changes in glucosinolates levels that are generated in response to developmental cues as well as abiotic and biotic stresses.

The current research focuses on:
• Bioengineering of glucosinolates in different host organisms
• Investigation of the presence of glucosinolate metabolon
• Identification of the glucosinolate transporter complement
• Regulation of glucosinolate transporters
• USER technology

CV

Academic degrees

DSc in Plant Biochemistry, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1996

PhD in Plant Biochemistry, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural Univ. (RVAU), Copenhagen,1988

MSc Dept. of Biochemistry, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, 1985

Employments

Jan 2012 - present: Head of DynaMo Center of Excellence financed by Danish National Research Foundation

May 2013 - present: Professor, Dep. of Plant and Environmental Sciences

July ’08 - May '13: Prof. mso, Molecular Plant Biology, Dept. of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences (formerly RVAU), University of Copenhagen

Jan ’92 - July 2008: Assoc. Prof., Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Dept. of Plant Biology, RVAU

2002: Visiting scientist, Plant Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, San Diego, USA  

May '90 - Aug '92: Postdoc fellow, Plant Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, San Diego, USA

Mar ’88- Jan ’92: Assis. Prof., Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Dept. of Plant Biology, RVAU

Sept ’85- Mar ’88: PhD student, Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Dept. of Plant Biology, RVAU

Awards

Elected to EMBO (2019)

Plant Innovation Prize, the Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society (2019)

Member of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (2014-2018)

Innovation Award (2013) University of Copenhagen

Danish research result of the year videnskab.dk (2012)

LIFE’s Communication Prize (2010) (together with other plant scientists)

Danisco Food Prize (2008)

Memberships

2011-2017 VILLUM forskerpris selection committee

2004-2011 Board member of Kartoffelafgiftsfonden

2001-2006 Member of 'Ernæringsrådet'

Leadership 

2012-2021Head of DNRF Center of Excellence for Dynamic Molecular Interactions (DynaMo)

2011-2015 Coordinator of Danish Strategic Council project between LIFE, DTU and Institute of Food Research, UK

2004-2011 Coordinator of two DANIDA grants with two partners in Lima, Peru (CIP, PUCP)

2006-2009 Coordinator of Nordic grant (NKJ) with partners from Sweden, Norway and Finland

2005, 2007, 2009 Coordinator of three EU Marie Curie international postdoc fellowships (IIF, OIF, IEF)